If You Ask A Question With IG's New Feature, You're Not Completely Anonymous

Crowd-sourcing input on your new haircut or spurring a discussion about the frontrunners on the Bachelorette has never been so easy, thanks to Instagram's newest feature. The image-sharing app debuted its questions sticker for Stories on July 10, which means you can now you can publicly pose any question to your followers and build potential bonds over their answers. Before you dive in, here's everything you should know if you're wondering, can you see who asks you a question on Instagram?

Think twice before you start querying the hottie you've been stalking on the qualities his "ideal woman" possesses, because Instagram's question sticker isn't anonymous. Unlike similar apps in the past like Formspring and tbh, the question-asker can see who is responding to their Story question sticker. Like usual, people see that you are lurking on their Story question in the list of their Story's viewers, but they can also see each follower's response to said question. So maybe you should think twice about sending that *hint hint* message. Unless you want the person to know that it's you, of course — in which case, more power to you.

Although you won't be able to do some undercover sleuthing, I think it's actually a good thing. Instagram's questions sticker makes people take responsibility for the questions they ask as well as their responses, so it's easier to keep things positive and learn more about your followers.

If the thought of full public disclosure makes you hesitate to interact at all, however, Instagram is keeping a bit of anonymity in the whole process. Maybe you're a tiny bit embarrassed that you've watched every season of Gilmore Girls more times than you can count, but you also want to share your truth. Hey, it's a great show. Luckily, not everyone and their mother has to know that you have a soft spot for Luke and totally empathize with Lorelai's coffee obsession.

When the question-asker responds to your question by tapping on your message in the viewers carousel, a new Story pops up. While your question, their original prompt, and their response will all show up on the new Story, your username won't be shared with the rest of their followers. Basically, they will know it's you asking the question, but the rest of the world won't.

So there you have it. I have to admit that among Instagram's newest features, including the video-heavy IGTV, the emoji slider for polls, and video chat capabilities in Direct Message, the new questions sticker definitely stands out as one of my favorites because it's so interactive. The update was rolled out on July 10 as part of the app's version 52 for iOS and Android, and it's already creating a flow of conversation across the image-sharing platform. Let's be real: Sometimes a "like" just doesn't cut it.

Instagram's poll sticker, which came out last fall, laid the groundwork by letting people answer a question by picking between two options. Because the app realized that there's a full spectrum of potential responses, they gifted us the emoji slider poll in May 2018. Like the questions button, your answers to polls are shown to the question-asker, which I awkwardly didn't realize was a thing for a long time. Help. I don't even want to think about all the polls I unwittingly filled out.

So cringe. Anyway, moving on. Even if you were among the scores of users who mistakenly assumed your poll choices were on the DL, you'll be in the know this time around with Instagram's questions sticker. The new feature is rolling out, so you can get to asking away armed with the knowledge that your lurking won't be so undercover anymore.